Prize-giving ceremony held at Maynooth University on 1st November.
Prize-winners gathered at Maynooth University on Tuesday evening 1st November, to reap the fruits of their work in the County Kildare Pride of Place and Tidy Towns competitions. Kildare County Council hosted a prize-giving ceremony for the winners who included young people, gardeners, residents associations and Tidy Towns committees from across the county.
The Mayor of Kildare, Councillor Ivan Keatley presented the prizes. He thanked the groups and individual citizens who had taken part for their work and achievements in their neighbourhoods.
This is the twenty-second year of the competition for tidy local authority housing estates. Prizes were awarded for voluntary work, community involvement and environmental impact. This year there were 35 entries representing over 50 estates, 21 prizes were presented in this category. 8 prizes were awarded in the Best-Kept-Garden competition.
This is the thirteenth year of the county council’s special awards scheme for young people who make an outstanding contribution to community life.
IPB National Pride of Place Competition 2016
IPB in association with Co-operation Ireland organise the National Pride of Place Competition every year and in doing so they give local authorities the opportunity to acknowledge the huge voluntary effort and great work being done every day by local communities throughout their county. The competition allows local authorities to nominate groups for exceptional work under various categories for the National Pride of Place Competition. The groups nominated by Kildare County Council in 2016 are as follows:
District: Naas MD
Category: Age Friendly Community Initiative
Nomination: McAuley Place, Naas
District: Newbridge/Kildare MD
Category: Communities Reaching Out Initiative
Nomination: Newbridge Family Resource Centre.
District: Athy
Category: Community Enterprise Initiative
Nomination: Athy Community Enterprise Centre
District: Maynooth
Category: Housing Estates
Nomination: Ashgrove Residents Association
District: Celbridge/ Leixlip
Category: Urban Neighborhoods
Nomination: Celbridge ISP
Kildare County Council is very proud to be associated with all the groups and we would like to wish all five groups the very best of luck in the National Pride of Place Awards Ceremony in Belfast later this month.
Kildare’s Tidy Towns groups were also recognised on the night for their ongoing work. A total of 41 towns and villages entered the competition this year and it has resulted in the best overall result for Kildare in the competition. A total of three gold, five silver and two bronze medals were previously awarded at the national Tidy Towns awards and these towns received a certificate to acknowledge this achievement.
All of the participating towns in the Tidy Towns competition receive a grant from the council. The groups were thanked by the Mayor for their valuable work and encouraged to continue their efforts to improve the local environment.
